Olivet College

In 1844, after founding Oberlin College, Rev. John J. Shipherd and 39 missionaries, including Oberlin faculty, students, and alumni, came to Michigan to create a college, which Shipherd deemed "New Oberlin."

The original land for the college was to be in present-day Ingham County, approximately twenty-five miles (40 km) from where the college stands. Olivetian lore says that while Shipherd was on a trip to the site in Ingham County, his horse continued to get lost, and would always wander back to a hill above a swamp, which is where Olivet's Campus Square exists today. Shipherd decided that powers from above must be drawing the horse back to this site, and Shipherd deemed that this would become the site for "New Oberlin." He then chose to name it Olivet, however, after the biblical Mount of Olives. Shortly after the founding of the college, John Shipherd succumbed to malaria, as many other early Olivetians would.

It is said that the founders of Olivet College believed in three essential components: first was a coeducational experience; service was another integral part of the founders' visions, as the founders helped to build the surrounding community as well as the broader community; they also believed that an education could be had by anyone, not just those "rich in the world's goods." Abolitionist beliefs, along with a coeducational experience, led the state legislature to deny a charter for the college until thirteen years after the first courses were offered. Some Olivetians believe that the charter was denied because of possible competition with Michigan College.

The first courses began in December 1844. Because President Reuben Hatch's petition for a charter was denied, Olivet became the Olivet Institute, and remained a two-year school until chartered in 1859.

The 20th century saw Olivet College become a liberal arts school, with a short-lived attempt at an Oxford-style curriculum from 1934 to 1944.

After assuming leadership in 2010, President Steven Corey announced the "Olivet College 2020 and Beyond Strategic Plan", which includes renovating existing buildings and facilities, creating a new student center, increasing endowment, and expand the student population to 1,500.[5]

Olivet offers 32 programs that lead to a bachelor's degree and a master's degree of Business Administration in Insurance. Student-to-faculty ratio is 16:1. Olivet College has approximately 1,040 students, 40% female and 60% male. 74% of classes have less than 24 students, and there is a 16:1 student/faculty ratio.[2] The college has a 59% retention rate for first to second year students.[6]

For the 2018–2019 school year, tuition is currently $26,748, room and board is $9,590, yearly fees are $912, and miscellaneous costs are $3,966. Approximately 99% of students receive some sort of financial aid.[7]

Along with Albion College and Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State University), Olivet founded the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) in 1888. The MIAA is the nation's oldest collegiate conference. Olivet College athletic teams, nicknamed the Comets, participate in the following intercollegiate sports as a member of the MIAA include:

Men baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field (indoor and outdoor), club volleyball, wrestling (Division III Independent), and boxing. Volleyball became a full varsity sport in 2015–16 (2016 season), competing in the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League. The men's boxing team won the United States Intercollegiate Boxing Association championship in 2016.[9]

Women basketball, bowling, boxing, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field (indoor and outdoor), volleyball, and cheerleading.

Olivet College has an FCC-Licensed Non-Commercial Educational student-run radio station, broadcasting in the Olivet area at 89.1 MHz FM with the callsign WOCR. The broadcast is also available for people outside the studio range online at.[10] Students can volunteer for a radio shift from 7:30am to midnight Monday through Friday to broadcast music, campus events, news, and talk shows. Comet Football and Basketball is also often broadcast live from the game site.

Charles Stewart Mott Academic Center, which is one of three buildings that houses the college's classrooms.

• John Henry Barrows (1867), 5th President of Oberlin College
• Hamilton King (1878), United States Minister to Siam (Thailand) from 1898-1912
• Augusta Jane Chapin, 2010 inductee into Michigan Women's Hall of Fame
• Adeola Fayehun (2007), Nigerian journalist[11]
• Daron Cruickshank, current mixed martial artist competing in the UFC's Lightweight Division[12]
• Dave Cutler (1965), software engineer, designer and developer of operating systems including Windows NT at Microsoft and RSX-11M, VMS and VAXELN at Digital Equipment Corporation
• James C. Harrison (did not graduate), artist
• James McCloughan (1968), Recipient of the Medal of Honor in 2017
• Wolfgang Mieder, educator
• Joseph S. Murphy (1955), President of Queens College, President of Bennington College, and Chancellor of the City University of New York
• George Pyne III (1965) football player
• John Ray (1950), football player and coach
• Sugar Chile Robinson, child musical prodigy
• Vern Ruhle (1975), MLB pitcher and coach
• Claressa Shields, Olympic boxing gold medalist
• Scott Sigler, author of science-fiction and horror, podcaster
• John Swainson, 42nd Governor of Michigan
• Ralph Thacker (1909), college football coach
• Robie Macauley (did not graduate), editor, novelist and critic whose literary career spanned more than 50 years[13]
• Justin Jaynes, current mixed martial artist competing in UFC Featherweight division.

The college's admission office on the left wing of the building; Dole Residence Hall on the right wing.

• Sherwood Anderson, creative writing
• George Whitefield Chadwick, composer
• Hubert Lyman Clark, zoology
• Amos Dresser, abolitionist and pacifist minister, one of the founders
• Ford Madox Ford, creative writing
• Alfred Korzybski, semantics
• Golo Mann, history
• Gertrude Stein, guest lecturer, creative writing
• Stuart F. Parsell, Head Coach of the football team from 1959 to 1970 and Athletic Director from 1960 to 1971, his leadership earned Olivet College great respect in the MIAA. Four times his football teams placed second in the league, and several times his players were selected by MIAA coaches as Most Valuable Players. In 1961, he was named Coach of the Year in Michigan. He still holds the record for the most victories of any football coach in Olivet’s long history.

• Soronian

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Olivet College.

• Official website
• Official athletics website